There are times when everyone needs solitude. To be alone with one’s own thoughts, own choices, own experiences and even one’s own messes, is a healthy thing. Without the influence or interruptions from others we can dig deep and reconnect with our selves, problem solve with our inner wisdom, and listen to the quiet beating of our own hearts. It’s healthy for the self and it’s healthy for relationships. Taking time to be alone can foster deep appreciation for the time together. Missing someone can be a very good and perspective-shifting experience. Spending time with ourselves can be as simple as taking a walk or afternoon at the lake. Whether it is for one day or a whole week, time apart from others can be beneficial for everyone.

If we desire abundance but keep seeing lack everywhere we look, we need to turn and look in a different direction. If we desire health but our attention is only on ailing, we must change our point of view. We cannot experience, achieve, or manifest a desire if we’re looking in the direction of what we do not want. And since we can only see in the direction we face, we must be facing that which we desire. If we desire harmony, we must look in the direction of harmony rather than staring at discord. If we wish to have a life we are grateful for, we must be seeing that which we are grateful for. If we do not like what we’re seeing, we must change our position.

If intuition is the sixth sense, love is the seventh, and its instrument is the heart. With the heart we can see the world and its experiences through the eyes of the Divine. With the heart we can see the pathway to forgiveness. With the heart we can hear words without judgment or fear. With the heart we can touch the lives of those who suffer or need. From the heart we can speak words of appreciation, compassion and tolerance. When we use our hearts to experience life through loving – just as we use our eyes to experience life through seeing and our hands to experience life through touching – the world and all in it are seen as having higher purpose, divine mystery, and an inherent beauty. Anytime life takes on a troubled hue, we can see it differently by looking with the heart.

Today I will pause to reflect on the many who have chosen to share some time on this planet with me.

I am thankful to my beloved for choosing to share another day with me, recognizing that it is a choice.

I am thankful to my family for choosing to share some of their time on earth with me, recognizing that it is a choice.

I am thankful to my friends for choosing to let me walk a while with them in life, recognizing that it is a choice.

Just as we’re learning to appreciate the role choice plays in our lives, we can also appreciate the choices of others, and how their choices make a positive difference in our world. Every day that a friend is still a friend, we are blessed by their choice to share part of their journey with us. Even those we appear to be well rooted in life with – children, parents and spouses – can choose at any time to be elsewhere and without our company. When we acknowledge that our interactions and time shared are based on choice, we’re less likely to take them or our relationships for granted, instead experiencing each moment with a fully grateful heart.

I accept impermanence as an inherent part of living in the natural world.

I do not cling to life, people, things or experiences.

I understand that everything is impermanent and eventually gives way to something else.

I deeply appreciate my life and its holdings while they are present, knowing they can change or cease to be at any time.

A core tenet of Buddhist philosophy is that humans suffer when they cling to that which is impermanent. The Buddha taught that liberation from suffering can be found by living in a state of non-attachment, which is realized when impermanence is understood to the true nature of the phenomenal world. Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike can benefit from this simple understanding. Impermanence tells us that all things of the world are in a constant state of change and that anything that originates is subject to cessation. Impermanence is easily understood when thinking in terms of death and decay, but circumstance and choice can also create endings. I once witnessed a young mother become inconsolable when her toddler broke a glass bird she’d had since childhood. The child was punished and made to suffer for his age-appropriate accident. She cried for hours, and talked about the incident for weeks. Everyone around her suffered for the loss of this little object. The incident was extreme but a beautiful example of how we cling to objects. We also cling – or attach ourselves – to situations, jobs, events, lifestyles, such that when they change or end, suffering ensues. Perhaps the form of attachment that creates the most suffering is our attachment to each other. Relationships are wrought with attachment. Parents cling to children who must grow up and move on, and many a divorce lawyer has filled his coffer when one spouse clings to another who seeks change. But when we embrace impermanence we understand that life has cycles, that relationships may end, and that items break or are lost. Non-attachment does not mean de-tachment. It means appreciating the thing, person and experience in the moment, with an acceptance of the reality that the only certainty is change. Accepting impermanence has the ability to instill a deep and meaningful reverence for what exists now, a true presence in life’s moments and promote a greater passion for living life fully. Just as the tree sheds its leaves seasonally and the caterpillar becomes the butterfly, so too are we and our lives a part of the natural reality of impermanence.

Abundance and plenty live in harmony with my grace, humility and spirituality.

I’m not advocating self-indulgence, greed or imbalanced materialism; I’m advocating the innate right of every person to want more of what makes their life better, easier, richer, more expansive and filled with greater opportunities. For some, saying the words “I want more” can feel greedy, ungrateful and self-centered. We’re raised to think we deserve less than more. We’re raised to believe that wanting is anti-spiritual. None of that is true. Self-denial, sacrifice and limiting beliefs are not spiritual attributes. The more of any good thing we have, the more we have to share. The happier, more stable and more loved we feel, the better able we are to serve others.

The true nature of our Source is infinite, abundant and free-flowing. By allowing that flow to come into our lives freely and happily, without regulation and without guilt for wanting, we not only allow Source to live within us unbridled, but also through us toward others.

If we see ourselves as victims of this world we cannot feel grateful for all that is right in our lives . If our focus is on what we perceive as lacking, we can not see all that we have. But when we come at life from the other side, seeing what we love and want and cherish and appreciate and learn from, we no longer see what we don’t want, don’t like, and don’t feel good about. When our focus is on what is uplifting, we don’t see what brings us down. When our hearts are feeling grateful for the plenty we do have, we aren’t giving attention to what we think is missing. While in the midst of positive, limitless, hopeful thoughts, we are not having negative, limiting and doubting thoughts. Having and maintaining a positive perspective changes everything because it changes everything.

The greatest and quickest way to rise above our own troubles is to put our attention on helping others in need. Personal problems often shrink in comparison to the troubles of others. Helping others also promotes a sense of purpose and appreciation, both of which support one’s own shift from a negative state of mind to a positive one. When helping others, our focus is on more positive concepts such as improvement, recovery, and healing. In short time those positive intentions and hopes will begin spilling over into our lives. In short, by helping others, we help ourselves.

As frustrating as roadblocks in life can be, there are none that can’t be overcome. If met with an obstacle in our path we can look for ways around, over, or even under it. If still no solution is apparent, we can seek Divine guidance and trust that a way to handle the situation will reveal itself. Most of the time we don’t really need to rush to find an answer – though we might think we do – and forcing one is rarely helpful in the long-term . Remember, if we worry or fight against a problem we only create resistance to finding a positive outcome but if we can approach it with an empowered and calm surety we create an opening for a solution to be known and a way forward to be shown.

Running water and a running car, friends and family, clothes and comfort; a desk, a computer, a light to see by and fingers to type with; the re$ources needed to enjoy life, be safe, eat well and sleep in peace; time, space, soul and heart; love and longing, naysayers and roadblocks, clouds and sun and soil and rain; seed to feed to birds, ears to hear their songs, and a mouth to smile at the loveliness of it all…..

No matter what my day brings forth, I will remember that I always have much to be grateful for.

I choose to put my attention on what is right and working and abundant in my life, and feel grateful for it all.

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Gratitude is one of the most transformative emotions because it is easily and readily available to everyone at any time. There is always *something* we can find to be grateful for, even on the most trying of days. When we find that perspective point and feel gratitude, our energy immediately shifts to a better, higher vibration. We are instantly up-lifted. Gratitude is free, accessible and easy to use. It doesn’t require a prescription. Choosing the perspective of gratitude, especially during difficult times, not only makes those times easier, it also aides in preventing negative states from taking root in the body and creating illness. Whatever challenges you’re facing today, finding a point of gratitude will make them easier. Even if you’re feeling great about life, deliberately choosing to feel grateful will enhance an already good thing. Putting our attention on that which we are grateful for does for the spirit what taking a vitamin does for the body- it enhances your natural state of well-being and keeps you going in that same direction.

I am grateful for my father, and the father figures I have had in my life.

On this day of celebrating fathers, I share my appreciation with those men I know who are shining examples of what it means to be a father.

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A father is a special sort of man who wants to give every tool, lesson and tip he’s collected, in order to help another be prepared to make it safely in the world. They’re sometimes too tough, sometimes too soft, but the best of them can’t be missed. Their eyes light up when they witness their children succeed, and their hearts soften when they watch them fall. Smiles span their faces when they’re given homemade ties and ceramic pencil holders, and their chests puff up nicely when they’re asked for help. They might be short on words, but never on love and encouragement.

But not all fathers are the kind who donate to the gene pool, or even raise a child. They’re the ones refered to when we say, “He was like a father to me.” Like-a-father men are coaches, mentors, team leaders, and counselors. Some are foster parents, grandfathers, uncles, neighbors, the parent of a friend, or even an older brother. Like-a-fathers are invaluable role models who also want to help us succeed and become our best selves.

Today is the day to say thank you to all the dads, fathers, papas, pops, sirs, and like-a-fathers who’ve helped prepare and guide us for this journey we call life. And if yours isn’t around to share your appreciation with, give your words to the wind and know that they will be heard.

I appreciate what life gives unto me and I gratefully give back unto life.

I do not attach my self to giving.

I do not attach my self to receiving.

I appreciate what life gives unto me and I gratefully give back unto life.

So simple.

No self.

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It is the little self that seeks satisfaction from receiving. It is the little self that seeks acknowledgement from giving. It is the little self that seeks. Forget seeking, forget the little self, and just be a part of the circle, forever dancing along in giving and accepting, giving and accepting, giving and accepting, giving and accepting….. No thoughts, just the dance.

I stand in the present moment of my life, assessing and appreciating the abundant harvest that surrounds me.

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What do you see when you look at your life? Do you see the gifts, the glory, the generosity the world has bestowed on you? Do you see today? Or do you see tomorrow, what you have yet to face, or a myriad of certain yet-to-exist struggles? Any of us can be the farmer who, when looking at his fields, abundant and thriving, immediately begins calculating the cost and effort to plant the next season’s crop. Or we can stand next to our fertile lives, pausing to admire the bounty we have created for ourselves and that which the world shares with us. It’s a choice. What will you choose?

I thank the Universe for giving me a place in the world today. I accept and look forward to all the miracles that await me.

or

Thank You for another glorious day of life so that I can again work toward the fulfillment of my purpose.

or

I intend to experience a wonderful, expansive, passionate day today. I will let nothing stop me from having a great day.

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Imagine heading off on a hike or a sailing journey without setting a course. It could be a pretty dangerous trek, or at the very least be filled with aimless wandering. Starting the day without an intention is much the same. An intention, clearly stated and affirmed, sets your course for the day. Sure, you can still go off track, but there’s a better chance of staying on course when it’s begun with some direction. Ideally, an intention for the day is set before ever getting out of bed, before the sights and sounds of the outer world have a chance to distract the mind. An intention might sound like this, “Thank you for this day and my place in it. I intend to have a day filled with gratitude.” Another wonderful intention is, “With an open heart, I welcome this day and the amazing gifts that await me.” Not only does an intention set first thing in the morning align you with your goal, but it also aligns you with positive emotional energy, and that’s a great beginning to any day. If you’re one of those people who lays in bed lamenting that you don’t want to get up, you’ll find setting an intention particularly useful for shifting your resistant thoughts. Set the intention that feels right for you, take a deep breath, and then let it unfold, moment by beautiful moment.

When someone offers me a compliment I will accept their words with a smile and a simple “Thank you.”

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Have you ever really listened to the way most people accept a compliment? Very often it sounds something like this- (In response to, “Your hair looks great today.”) “Really? It’s sort of flat…” or “Thanks, I got lucky, most of time it doesn’t quite do what I want it to do…” or “Oh, it’s out of control. I really need it cut…” Another example is this- (In response to, “Wow, you’re really talented.”) “Oh I don’t know…” or “I try but I have a long way to go…” or “Really? You think so?” Why is it so hard for the average person to accept a compliment? Because we don’t believe we’ve earned it. We don’t believe we are worthy of it. We don’t believe whatever they are saying is true because we ourselves don’t believe it. Most compliment responses include some sort of negation, justification, denial, argument, disbelief, or a brushing it off with a joke. A compliment is a gift and it needs to be accepted as one. Today I will listen to how I respond to the kind words of others. I will practice, consciously and with great effort, saying nothing more than, “Thank you.” It will probably feel odd but I will work to get used to it!

Every day may not see the fulfillment of my dreams, but every day holds much to be grateful for. I can be upset that the price of fuel is almost more than I can afford, or I can be grateful that I have a car. I can be upset that my body is ailing, or I can be grateful that I have access to health care. I can be upset that my partner forgot our dinner plans, or I can be grateful that I have someone to work through such issues with. No matter what seems to be wrong, I will remember the words, “could be worse”, and be grateful for all that is RIGHT and beautiful in my life.

I am safe, loved, and my future secured in faith and positive affirmation.

I replace all doubts with certainty and gratitude for all that is right and abundant in my life.

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Last night I went to bed overwhelmed with appreciation and humbled by the beautiful course my life is on and all the loving support I am wrapped in. I woke this morning unnerved and apprehensive, little questioning doubts creeping into my mind. Life is good and my delightful ego, doing its job so well, recognized the risk in such a state– it might not last, it might all collapse, it might turn sour, something might go wrong. Risk usually comes with fear and fear always bring forth the ego which seeks to protect the self from any threat. I sat and embraced the risk, eliminated the fear (replacing it with faith and positive beliefs) and breathed again in gratitude for the abundance, love, and joy that are here now. Life can always collapse around us at any moment. Sometimes it’s even necessary and proper that it do so, but sometimes it does so only because (over time) our fears of collapse have created it. Accept risk without fear, replace doubt with certainty, and live in gratitude for what is here and now.

It’s easy enough to feel grateful for things like loving friends, a fulfilling job, and a warm place to sleep. Harder, is feeling grateful for a struggle or a challenging person yet these have always been my greatest teachers, offering me unsurpassed growth potential. Today I intend to feel grateful for every struggle or challenge I face…. and the gift, not yet revealed, that lies within it. I will remember that it is to the mire the lotus owes its beauty.

There are Buddhist monks and other practitioners who use eating as an opportunity to practice mindfulness. What that means is that while they are eating they are eating. That is– they are ONLY eating. They do not talk during meals and their every movement and every thought is related to the meal and eating.

Their thoughts are of gratitude for the grain which gave up its life force and the many hands that saw it go from cultivation to consumption. They view eating as a divine marriage between the food and the one eating it. They reflect with awe and humility on the perfection of the body as it takes part in the meal. Hands that take food from bowl to mouth, a sense of taste that recognizes the earthy flavor, a digestive system that turns a grain of rice into sustenance, all parts in the process are acknowledged and honoured. They feel, taste, smell, appreciate, unite, and fully engage in what becomes a sacred communion. I, on the other hand, have actually eaten so fast and so absent-mindedly that I’ve not remembered eating at all. I like the idea of consciously becoming one with my food. I especially like the idea of being fully present in the act of eating and appreciating the many, many who have made it possible. So today, even if it means eating in the closet or the garage so that I’m not disturbed, I’ll eat one meal with the divine grace of a monk.